1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a program creation apparatus, a program creation method and a program, and more particularly relates to a program creation apparatus, a program creation method and a program that create a program executed on a microcomputer.
2. Description of Related Art
A microcomputer is integrated into a variety of devices and used widely as a controller for controlling the operation of each device.
The microcomputer operates according to a program stored in an internal memory to implement various control processing. Construction of a system using a microcomputer thus requires creation of software for the operation of the microcomputer. Development of microcomputer software uses programming language such as high-level language that includes C and BASIC and assembly language that is more like machine language. It is necessary to have a good knowledge of the programming language in order to create a program for a microcomputer. However, the programming languages are a set of words, numerical expression and so on that are peculiar to each language, being highly complicated. Thus, it takes much time for users to learn the language to create a program, which is much of a burden to users.
Further, a program for a microcomputer is described generally by manual input by a user, and bugs due to input errors such as spelling error and numerical expression or logic description error can occur. In order to remove the bugs, it is necessary to perform desk debugging or machine debugging using software simulator, hardware simulator and so on. The construction of a microcomputer system thus takes lots of work, which causes a deterioration in the quality of the program.
In order to overcome the above drawbacks, an apparatus that inputs a state transition diagram to create a program or an apparatus that inputs a flowchart to create a program have been proposed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 08-63345 and 11-353164. However, the program creation apparatus of the related arts are based on the assumption that a user has some experience in software development, and it is unable to create software unless a user is capable of understanding the flow of software and creating a state transition diagram or a flowchart.
As described above, the program creation apparatus of the related arts require software knowledge of describing program language or understanding the flow of program operation, and it is difficult for a user without the knowledge to create a program for a microcomputer.